Bill aims to protect joint patents

Patents that result from collaboration between universities and companies won new protections from legal challenge under legislation that passed Congress over the weekend.

If signed by President Bush, the bill would defuse a federal court ruling that many researchers said jeopardized patents growing out of joint scientific research conducted by public and private institutions, especially in such relatively new fields as biotechnology.

The bill passed Saturday as part of broader spending legislation.

At issue was a 1997 decision in California in a dispute between two makers of football-like toys equipped with tails and fins on one end of them.

In its decision, the court found that the inventor of the Vortex ball, a patent for which was held by OddzOn Products Inc., derived the invention with the help of research collaborators who shared confidential designs among each other.

In a challenge from a rival toymaker, the court found that the information shared by the inventors could be considered evidence that the invention was not original, and thus the patent could be revoked.

For Subscribers

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAbdul El-Sayed tries to woo MAHA voters as Democrats seek inroads with RFK’s supporters

FOR SUBSCRIBERSKratom-like substances are popping up in a typically benign supplement

FOR SUBSCRIBERSGOP super PAC increases its spending for Sen. Jon Husted in tough Ohio race

FOR SUBSCRIBERSRecords reveal tumultuous marriage between slain New York Times executive and wife

FOR SUBSCRIBERSFrom clean energy warrior to ‘wall of shame,’ James Talarico reverses on a fossil fuel money pledge

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCongressional staff planned official trip with luxury stops in Italy and France weeks before election

FOR SUBSCRIBERSA harrowing ordeal aboard an Israel-bound plane

FOR SUBSCRIBERSOpenAI CEO Sam Altman to skip congressional hearing on rogue AI agents

FOR SUBSCRIBERSKey DOJ lawyers departed Trump ‘grand conspiracy’ probe amid pressure to produce, source says

FOR SUBSCRIBERSTrump’s new AI chatbot often links to a site launched under Clinton 26 years ago

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAt MAHA summit, industry CEOs the movement once vilified take the stage

FOR SUBSCRIBERSThis Paralympian has two goals: Win medals and give away $500,000 to her teammates

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCornell rape allegation spotlights stringent New York state laws that have long drawn criticism

FOR SUBSCRIBERSThe debate over AI’s future rages on both coasts

FOR SUBSCRIBERSDecades-old march dispute reignites in Northern Ireland, threatening political crisis

Essentially, the ruling meant that sharing of information among researchers, even confidentially, could lead to challenges to the validity of patents by parties who had nothing to do with the original patent.

For Subscribers

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAbdul El-Sayed tries to woo MAHA voters as Democrats seek inroads with RFK’s supporters

FOR SUBSCRIBERSKratom-like substances are popping up in a typically benign supplement

FOR SUBSCRIBERSGOP super PAC increases its spending for Sen. Jon Husted in tough Ohio race

FOR SUBSCRIBERSRecords reveal tumultuous marriage between slain New York Times executive and wife

FOR SUBSCRIBERSFrom clean energy warrior to ‘wall of shame,’ James Talarico reverses on a fossil fuel money pledge

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCongressional staff planned official trip with luxury stops in Italy and France weeks before election

FOR SUBSCRIBERSA harrowing ordeal aboard an Israel-bound plane

FOR SUBSCRIBERSOpenAI CEO Sam Altman to skip congressional hearing on rogue AI agents

FOR SUBSCRIBERSKey DOJ lawyers departed Trump ‘grand conspiracy’ probe amid pressure to produce, source says

FOR SUBSCRIBERSTrump’s new AI chatbot often links to a site launched under Clinton 26 years ago

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAt MAHA summit, industry CEOs the movement once vilified take the stage

FOR SUBSCRIBERSThis Paralympian has two goals: Win medals and give away $500,000 to her teammates

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCornell rape allegation spotlights stringent New York state laws that have long drawn criticism

FOR SUBSCRIBERSThe debate over AI’s future rages on both coasts

FOR SUBSCRIBERSDecades-old march dispute reignites in Northern Ireland, threatening political crisis

"It was the sword of Damocles hanging over the heads of universities that engage more and more with other universities and companies," said Andrew Cohn, spokesman for the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, which coordinates patents for University of Wisconsin at Madison.

The bill, which had broad, bipartisan support, changed U.S. patent law to eliminate the threat of such challenges.

"Today's biotech, pharmaceutical, and nanotechnology companies are among the foremost users of collaborative research strategies," Rep. Lamar S. Smith (R-Tex.), the bill's chief sponsor in the House, said in a statement.